Mr Flewitt told the jury: "It is the prosecution case that both Paul Taylor and Michael Barton were present during the racial abuse.

"It may well be that you will conclude, after you have heard all the evidence, that is was one of those two young men that was responsible for shouting that abuse."

Anthony, a talented basketball player, was taken to hospital after he was found unconscious in the park, but died a few hours later during the early hours of July 30.

Mr Flewitt told the court Anthony was killed in a racist attack.

He said: "It is the prosecution case that, on July 29, 2005, Paul Taylor, Michael Barton and others decided to pursue Anthony

Walker and Marcus Binns for no other reason than the colour of their skin.

"In McGoldrick Park, Paul Taylor, Michael Barton and others confronted Anthony Walker and Marcus Binns. It is the prosecution case that the fatal blow was struck by Paul Taylor, but that the weapon was provided by Michael Barton.

"It is also the prosecution case that the killing of Anthony Walker was racially motivated."

After the attack with the axe, which is similar to one used by mountaineers, Taylor and Barton fled Huyton, said Mr Flewitt.

The court heard they abandoned the car they were travelling in at the Brick Wall pub, got into another one and drove to Dover.

They then took the 6am ferry the next day to Calais and then drove on to Amsterdam, the jury was told. After his arrest, and when he was brought back to England, Barton was interviewed and told detectives he had been involved in an exchange with Anthony and his friends and said he had found it humiliating that he had been threatened by a black man and had been forced to back off, the jury heard.

He told officers he had nothing to do with the fatal attack, but later saw Anthony on the floor with something sticking out of his head.

He said he tried to get the ice axe out of the teenager's head, but had been unable to do so.

Mr Flewitt told the court Barton has now changed his position and, in his defence statement, no longer accepts he was involved in a confrontation with Anthony outside the Huyton Park pub.

Barton claims he did not take a weapon with him to McGoldrick Park and maintains he was not present when the fatal blow was struck.

It is his case, the jury was told, that Taylor fabricated an account when they were in Amsterdam which Barton gave to police upon his return.

Mr Flewitt told the court that while Barton has been on remand at Strangeways prison in Manchester, he wrote a number of letters, which were intercepted.

He told the court: "Although the content of those letters is of no particular significance, three of those letters concluded with the same short poem, 'One, two, three, now we're trippin' on an E//We jump upon the microphone with a shout going out to Pete Daley.'

"You will, no doubt, recall that one of the abusive comments shouted at Marcus Binns while he was standing at the bus stop was, 'microphone head' - a reference, you may think to the events of the 29th and 30th of July, or whether it may have been some not immediately apparent, but nevertheless innocent explanation."

THE horror of Anthony Walker's injury was re-created in the form of a 3D graphic shown to the court on TV screens.

Members of his family watched the graphic computer image showing how the wide end of the axe was buried more than two inches into the teenager's head. The 2ft axe was swung with enough power to penetrate the skull and cause "cata-strophic" injury to the victim's brain.

The blow caused massive traumatic disintegration of the left frontal, parietal and temporal lobes of the left cerebral hemisphere, the court heard.

A post mortem examination revealed it was likely that Anthony was lying on the ground when the blow was delivered.

Neil Flewitt QC, prosecuting, said: "Had Anthony Walker been standing up when he received that blow, it is likely that he would have fallen immediately to the floor, collapsing as if pole-axed."

The court heard Anthony also suffered injuries to his thumb and finger consistent with "an attempt to fend off a blow from the ice axe".

Mr Flewitt held up the axe to show the jury.

On seeing the weapon, which has a handle about two feet long and was wrapped in clear plastic, members of Anthony's family in the public gallery, gasped and his mother, Gee, wiped away tears.

Accused seen swinging axe at pub >>>>

Accused seen swinging axe at pub>

>

THE court heard that two days before the murder Barton and two other men were seen swinging something at the sign outside the Huyton Park pub.

Forensic scientists later found seven marks in the sign which, the court heard, were made by the same ice axe used to kill Anthony.

The prosecution claims this proves it was Barton who provided the weapon used by Taylor to deliver the fatal blow.

The court heard that on the evening of the attack Taylor and Barton were both seen at the pub.

At about 8.45pm Taylor was seen writing or scratching something on the pub sign.

When the sign was recovered by the police, Taylor's nickname "Chomper" was seen in a number of places alongside a swastika motif.

Barton rang his City star brother >>>>

Barton rang his City star brother>

DEFENDANT Michael Barton made a desperate phone call to his Premiership soccer star brother as he fled the country, a court has heard.

The prosecution told how he, along with Paul Taylor, drove to Dover as Anthony Walker's was left dying then caught the 6am ferry the next day to Calais.

The pair then drove on to Amsterdam, the jury was told.

There he telephoned his older brother, Manchester City player Joey.

Mr Flewitt said: "Whilst they were abroad, Michel Barton spoke on the telephone to his brother, Joey Barton.

"Among other things, he said, 'Listen, I was there but I didn't kill him, it was Chomper, Chomper killed him.'

"Chomper is Paul Taylor's nickname."

Barton went by nickname Ozzy.

The court heard that Taylor and Barton remained abroad until August 3, when they were escorted back to Liverpool by their parents and officers from Merseyside Police.